Coimbatore: FIR against arrested members of ISIS module reveals plan to attack religious places

The three members of an ISIS module in Tamil Nadu, arrested by the state police, were planning to attack churches, temples, mosques and other key religious places in Coimbatore with the intent to kill civilians and intelligence department officials, the FIR has said.

Accused Mohammad Hussain, Shahjahan and Sheik Safiullah were on Sunday sent to judicial custody by a Coimbatore sessions court till June 28.

On June 13, the police had conducted searches at the houses of Hussain, Shahjahan and Safiullah and seized "incriminating" documents and digital devices.

The searches followed information that they were "staunch supporters" of ISIS and have been propagating the terrorist organisation's ideology on social media. The seized items included cellphones, SIM cards, computer hard disks, bank account documents, pen drives and memory cards, according to it.

A dagger, one electric baton, 300 air-gun pellets and a large number of incriminating documents and some pamphlets of Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) were also seized from the houses and workplaces of accused persons, the police had said in a statement after their arrest on June 13.

A case under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was registered against the trio.

The FIR said they were planning to attack churches, temples, mosques and other important religious places in Coimbatore with the intent to kill civilians and intelligence department officials.

The police action came after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out raids on June 12 at seven locations and arrested Mohammed Azarudeen, the alleged mastermind of ISIS Tamil Nadu module, who was a Facebook friend of Sri Lankan suicide bomber Zahran Hashim.

"Azarudeen was the leader of the module and was maintaining a Facebook page named "KhilafahGFX", through which he had been propagating the ideology of ISIS/Daish," the agency had said.